The unofficial results of today’s elections in Harrisonburg, with the State Board of Elections reporting 100 percent of the city precincts, show Ted Byrd and Charlie Chenault as the two winners of the City Council election.

In the west school board district Polly Fravel defeated Scott Baxter.

Voter turn-out in the city was 32 percent.

At the time of this post, the Associated Press reported that Bob Goodlatte would retain his seat.

This post will be updated as more information comes in from the House of Representatives race and the state referendum items.

November 3rd Update: At 8:30 this morning the Virginia State Board of Elections finally reported all precincts for the Sixth District race. In no surprise Bob Goodlatte will return to the House, now a Republican controlled one, for a tenth term. He garnered 76 percent of the vote throughout the district, but only managed to claim 60 percent of the vote in Harrisonburg.

With less than half a percent of precincts still out statewide, in an outcome predicted last night, all three referendum items will be added to the state constitution. Questions 1 and 2 passed by a large margin, while Question 3 concerning an increase in the state’s Revenue Stabilization Fund, squeaked by, passing by only 50,000 votes.

Congrats to Charlie and Ted! Kudos to Sal for running a great campaign first time out, and Polly Fravel for winning a seat on school board. My son got to vote for his K-5 Keister music teacher for office. Way cool!

…but you admit that was a stretch. Lots of gloating going on today, and lots of over-defense from Democrats. The division goes way back past the Obama election 2 years ago. Hope we can step out of our camps a little as a nation soon.

Bazrik: The change will come when enough of us realize that the third party, often expected on the far right or far left, forms in the middle. It’s a question of whether the Chamber Pubs or the moderate Dems blink first.

Wow, you’re actually stating that a country can’t be “diverse” and “unified” at the same time. That’s actually kind of amazing. Those aren’t antonyms, sir, and that’s one of the most disturbing aspects of your point of view. In your eyes, it seems that, for a nation to be “unified”, it must also be homogeneous. That’s just ridiculous, and a little bit scary.

Don’t get me wrong – “diversity” and its celebration can certainly be bastardized as a concept, and used as an empty buzzword for political grandstanding. But the same can be said for the railing against “diversity” that I see a lot of ultra-conservatives doing. You know, that chest-pounding rallying cry for an America that “was” before all this PC stuff and “diversity” came along. Well, that rhetoric is just as empty, as that America was never as nice for all types of people as we’d like to imagine.

Well, we’re bound to disagree here because of the fundamental differences we have regarding what “diversity” means. So I guess you’re right – it is a simple concept. You simply think I don’t get it, and I think the same about you.

You see diversity as emphasizing “what we don’t have in common” – something you DIDN’T say in your original comment, by the way. So, from the start, you see diversity as inherently negative – it’s a laundry list of all the things in which people don’t connect.

I view diversity as an opportunity. The very definition of the word is positive – “variety”. Meaning more choices, not less. A greater number of possibilities, not less. It’s kind of what this country is built on, you know. Lots of different people coming to one place to create a tapestry of… oh never mind, you hate that concept.

Again, a political party can carry this too far – as I fully admit some Democrats have – in that diversity can be “celebrated” to the point that it’s silly. But I think that’s the minority of cases.

…and, people can take the issue of diversity too far the OTHER way, to where they’re complaining about signs being written in two languages. Gasp! By the way, I have to ask – is it really that hard “looking past” the Spanish on a sign? Does it cause that much mental fatigue? …seems like a fairly simple concept to me.

Yes, I think the term “diversity” has a negative connotation to it, but I don’t think people of different ethnic groups are negative at all. I grew up in Arlington County with all kinds of ethnic groups…and while we had different occasions to celebrate their different traditions, etc., we immersed them, at that time, into our culture and languages in the schools.

That’s not done, even in Arlington today. There’s no pressure being applied for those from other cultures/countries to fully assimilate into “American Culture”…so we’re left with a bunch of different peoples, from a bunch or different cultures/countries — lacking unity.

Bazrik, we’re not in Mexico, the Mexicans are here…look at the NAFTA requirements for packaging…most packing now had English, French, and Spanish…all in 2-point type.

No, not enough. I know you’re used to seizing the last word – and have at it if that’s what you’re about – but this has to be recognized.

I was actually agreeing with you halfway through your comment!

All your points about lacking unity, and no pressure to “assimilate” – great word! …means to blend, while still keeping traits of original parts! – into a main culture.

…then your comment turned. In a big way.

“In short, multiculturalism fails…Germany’s already recognized that”

Well then maybe that’s the country for you, my friend. If your goal is one culture with no identifiable parts, sub-sections… i.e., if you’re going after the color “gray” instead of a patchwork that interweaves – maybe you need a more militant state where language, choice of religion, etc. is taken out of the hands of the people. This country might be a little too wide open for you.

Nope. So, like I said – massive difference of opinion, – and I’m as old as you, I believe (not quite sure). …so let me get this straight – our country’s views on diversity was “working well” in the 1950’s?? I don’t know what YOU’RE looking for, but maybe it’s revisionist history. Ever ask someone who’s non-white what it was like to live in the 50’s or even 60’s? :)

Anyway, I think we’ve beat up the rest of the readers with our debate. You’re certainly engaging, I’ll give you that – but your opinions consistently tend to suggest that everyone else is less informed than you, for what it’s worth.

No, Bazrik. I don’t think you’re less-informed than I am, you’ve simply had life experiences which were simply diverse from mine.

My opinions tend to be derived via where I’ve lived and my life experiences. Having lived in around military families for most of my life — except that time during which I’ve lived here — I’ve never judged people by the color of their skin…they simply were people to me.

Dear Gene et al,
I ran as an independent because I am independent. I respect Democrats and Republicans, but I am not one. Over the years, many local politicians have accused me of leaning to the Democratic side, which was never an issue for me. That is exactly the point – I vote the issue for what is best for all citizens of Harrisonburg. I will continue as an independent until my independence is laid to rest at Woodbine Cemetery. If it helps, I will request that “independent” appear on my grave stone. My run as an independent was a conscious, well thought out (at least in my mind) response as to who I wanted to serve. Simply put, I serve no one else and no other entity. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but don’t sell me any shorter than I already am.

At this local level, I think party affiliation is actually not very helpful in separating candidates and probably even gets in the way of having specific issue discussions.

Party affiliation may be the main organizing tool for state-wide elections and addressing state-connected issues. I imagine the state party apparatus likes the idea of tying people to their party.

However, when it comes to our very local issues, I think most decisions are made on the merits of the issue, as that person sees them; I don’t think some state party platform is what guides our local officials. I don’t doubt that a “Republican” could vote to raise local taxes to fill a local need and a “Democrat” might vote to make cuts in a social safety net program to make budget. Most local officials, I think, understand that their decisions can have a very real effect on the person living right next door to them.

We’re certainly better off asking officials to make up their own minds based on how they view a specific issue and not because it fits within their state/national party platform. I bet we’d force ourselves to understand local candidate positions better if they all had no party letter by their name.

Dany; I guess you missed the local 2009 Delegate elections wherein state and local Republican Party officials made certain that their most compliant local candidate was given every advantage to prevail. The result being that you never say the most qualified Republican in that Delegate race. And the interests of our locality were never a concern of the Republican Party.

Party trumped locality in that process, Bubby. That was a pretty good example of the value (or lack of) of the local party in decision-making and policy setting. The local parties are just an organizing vehicle for state-wide folks – which, no doubt, is important and has value. However, I still don’t think party affiliation and how someone decides on strictly local issues is always very connected. Being a loyal party member has a big impact on your ability to move up the political ladder, though.

BTW, Bubby (whoever you are) I generally like your posts. You seem to be the John Stewart of hburgnews.

RINO is such a boring term, used by those who expect a purity and unanimity of opinion that has never existed and never will. It’s disappointing that this mentality is far more common in the Republican than Democratic Party. There is something paranoid about people who are convinced that others pretend to be members of a political party but secretly hold unorthodox views rather than simply recognizing that in a big two party system both parties will contain millions of people with different shades of opinion on all sorts of issues.

I’m far too fiscally conservative and socially liberal to be elected. The development community hate me for refusing to concede to their demand that the County grant them special privilege, and I will never kiss the ring of Dean Welty or any who seek to legislate morality.

Besides, I’ve learned how things work: I make a fortune, await a call from Mark Obenshain and let him arrange my elected office. If I keep my mouth shut and do what I’m told for 5 or 6 years I’ll be running a state agency; hopefully the ABC!

I always find the people declaring others to be “RINO”s to be somewhat hilarious, given that Abraham Lincoln is probably turning over in his grave every time one of these folks engages in this conduct.

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Friendly City Food Co-Op, Harrisonburg’s consumer-owned grocery, invites the community to come see its new destination for natural, organic and locally-produced products at the store’s grand opening 11 a.m.-5 p.m. July 9 at 150 East Wolfe Street.

HARRISONBURG, VA — Friendly City Food Co-op, slated to open this month in Harrisonburg, Va., has become the newest member of the National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA), a business services cooperative serving 120 consumer-owned food co-ops nationwide.

May 2: Harrisonburg was honored when the League of American Bicyclists announced the latest round of Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) designations over the weekend to kick off May as National Bike Month.